Patrick Murphy

How did you get into your line of work? I had been an experienced dive leader with the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) since 1984 and a volunteer diver at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, La., beginning in 1996. Early in 1999, I met a representative from the North Carolina Aquariums at a dive trade show where facility expansion plans were discussed, including the creation of a volunteer dive program. Because of my extensive experience in New Orleans diving with "apex" predators (sharks) in confined aquarium exhibits, I was hired as the first-ever North Carolina Aquariums Dive Safety Officer, starting work just prior to facility grand reopening in 2000.